Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Curse of Strahd: Death House Survival Horror Part 2

Spoilers for Curse of Strahd ahead!

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Death House is calling to you...

In this post, I want to break down the first "half" of Death House, areas 1-21. If you didn't read the previous post, I want to create a feeling of horror and fear by starting off my players with little equipment and having them slowly move through the house, finding items and searching everything, with tension rising as they move from area to area. Because of this approach, I've also included modifications for certain monsters in this area, because I would actually like the party to make it to the final scene alive.

I also want to note what may be the finest single page in Curse of Strahd: Marks of Horror, page 7. Tone is very important in a horror campaign (or any campaign, but horror moreso than many others), and this page breaks down how to create that tone. Most of the advice given is best used for creating scene descriptions or NPCs, but the ideas of Foreshadowing, The Unknown, and Humor can guide how you set up encounters and make them truly scary. If you haven't purchased Curse of Strahd, and you plan to run a horror campaign, I would highly recommend buying the book just for this page. And that's not even mentioning the plethora of good ideas squeezed into this adventure.

One last note. In this first part of the adventure, the players may not enter every room or find every item. That is alright. This isn't a dungeon crawl, this is tense exploration. Make sure to allow them to wander, and take advantage of characters with high perception scores to point out the grisly details of the house.

2. Main Hall
Note: This room contains a fireplace and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Mark of Horror: Serpents and Skulls in the wall panelling. I would call out a Perception check to look at the walls here, we want players to be searching the walls later in the adventure.
Items: Longsword, black cloaks, top hat
Added Item: Black Leather Armor that incorporates skeletal designs, in cloakroom

3. Den of Wolves
Note: This room contains a fireplace and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Note: The windows of this room are covered in bricks at the end of this adventure
Mark of Horror: none. This room should be relatively nice (at least for now)
Items: Crossbows and bolts (requires thieves' tools), playing cards
Added Item: Wolf's Hide Armor, draped over a chair. The arrow holes are still apparent.

4. Kitchen and Pantry
Note: This room contains an Oven and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Mark of Horror: if players look into the dumbwaiter, describe the rope and pulley system. If they pull on it, have a shower of dust fall out and choke those standing near the area. This can foreshadow that the house is actually rotten, despite its appearance.
Items: Rolling Pin (club), pantry full of food
Added Item: Butcher's knife (dagger), on counter

5. Dining Room
Note: This room contains a fireplace and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Note: The windows of this room are covered in bricks at the end of this adventure
Mark of Horror: Twisted Faces and Wolves in the wall panelling. I would call out a Perception check to look at the walls here, we want players to be searching the walls later in the adventure.
Items: Iron Rod (club)
Added Item: A particularly gruesome-looking steak knife (dagger) on the table

6. Upper Hall
Note: This room contains a fireplace and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Mark of Horror: Youths fighting off bats in the wall panelling. I would call out a Perception check to look at the walls here, we want players to be searching the walls later in the adventure.
Items: two suits of wolf-headed armor (chain mail), two spears

7. Servant's Room
Mark of Horror: a small copper brooch (worth 1 SP) lying on one of the beds. Inside is a small painting of a young plain-looking boy. An etched description reads "Love that transcends time" (an insight check of 12 can discern that this may have belonged to a servant of the house). This might lighten the mood, make the players search for the owner (she would be long dead), and of course, introduces a major theme of the overall adventure.
Added Item: Thieves tools, in one of the footlockers
Note: if the players don't go back and unlock the crossbow bolts at this point, that is alright. They will have opportunity to buy gear in Barovia and ranged weapons aren't vital to this adventure.

8. Library
Note: This room contains a fireplace and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Note: The windows of this room are covered in bricks at the end of this adventure
Note: This room contains a secret door (Active Perception 13 / Passive Perception 18)
Note: This room contains the key to area 20
Mark of Horror: When the players open the double doors to this area, tell them they hear the whistling of a blade singing through the air towards them. Have them roll a DC 15 dexterity saving throw, but pass or fail nothing happens except they do/don't duck down quickly. This should foreshadow the end of the adventure.
Items: writing supplies
Added item: A rapier with a windmill hilt, in a glass case on a shelf

9. Secret Room
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All the charm and glamour of a 16-year-old My Chemical Romance fan

Mark of Horror: Books full of dark magic. Remember that a character needs to spend 1 hour reading the books before they make their arcana check to determine they are false. That means while they are in the room, you should describe the fiend-summoning and necromantic rituals as legitimate. They can read the book more closely on a short or long rest. If they fail their check, I would give them a spell: Summon Dretch. Tell the player it is exactly the same as "Conjure Elemental" (PHB pg. 225) except that it summons one Dretch (MM pg. 57), it is a 1st-level spell that doesn't require material components, and it counts as a conjuration spell that can be copied into a spellbook. Of course, the spell completely fails when attempted.
Items: leather armor, 3 darts (no longer poisoned), 3 spell scrolls, letter of Strahd.
Added Item: an uncommon magic item, which draws a particular character to it from inside the wooden chest
Here, the adventure says the characters can continue to the secret door if they find the letter to Strahd. However, that invalidates the conclusion of the children's story. I'm not sure I would allow the house to reveal its secret unless the children are on the side of the characters.

10. Conservatory
Note: This room contains a fireplace and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Note: The windows of this room are covered in bricks at the end of this adventure
Mark of Horror: Fancy skeletons in the wall panelling. I would call out a Perception check to look at the walls here, we want players to be searching the walls later in the adventure.
Added Items: a flute and a lute of shoddy make, in a small chest on the north wall. They are difficult to play in tune, granting disadvantage to performance checks that use them

11. Balcony
Note: This room contains a secret door (Active Perception 15 / Passive Perception 20)
Mark of Horror: Hanging corpses and worms in the wall panelling. If the players aren't searching the walls on their own at this point, I'd keep calling them out.
Encounter: The animated armor (MM pg. 19) is a dented and rusted suit of black plate armor. It gives the feeling that it is watching one of the PCs. It attacks if touched or attacked. When it moves, a deep voice emanates from within. "He is the ancient. He is the land."
The house is not magically maintaining the third and fourth floor of the house, so the armor should be weakened. I reduced the monster's AC to 17 and lowered it's slam attack damage to 4 per attack.
Items: scraps of plate armor (useless)
Added item: A shield on the wall, with a tree pattern inlaid into the front

12. Master Suite
Note: This room contains a fireplace and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Note: The windows of this room are covered in bricks at the end of this adventure
Mark of Horror: The rotted tiger-skin rug. Also, emphasize that this room is unkempt, dusty, and tattered, compared to the first two floors of the house.
Added Item: a bloodied battleaxe with a jagged obsidian handle, in a cavity under the tiger rug. Discolored planks cover it. (Active Perception 15 / Passive Perception 20)

13. Bathroom
Note: This room contains a stove and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Mark of Horror: the spigot doesn't work. If players bust open the pipes, dust should come pouring out.

14. Storage Room
Mark of Horror: The Broom of Animated Attack. Specifically, use its reaction ability listed in the statblock (CoS pg. 226). I would describe the broom as sturdy, to give a PC the idea that it could be a weapon.
Items: splintered broom (useless)
Added item: a folded set of leather armor with clasps made of a metal that is always cold, on a shelf. Easily noticeable, should draw the players into the room.

15. Nursemaid's Suite
Note: This room contains a fireplace and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Note: The windows of this room are covered in bricks at the end of this adventure
Note: This room contains a secret door (Active Perception 15 / Passive Perception 20)
Mark of Horror: Eyeballs in the mirror frame. If the players aren't searching the walls on their own at this point, I'd keep calling them out. This secret door (or the one in area 11) is required to continue on. If players search the mirror, tell them about the secret door. Also, this should introduce the idea of secret doors to them, which will be helpful throughout this adventure.
Encounter: The specter (MM pg. 279) is here, unless it is defeated in area 18. When a character opens the door, they see the ghostly lady hovering over the crib. She turns and says: "Shh..." (the specter can't speak, so this noise is not speech, just wind)
Since this is an encounter that can quite literally kill a player within one round, I decided to lower the specter's Life Drain damage to 7. Hopefully the players will be able to survive a round or two of that.
Added item: Healer's Kit, on an end table. It contains some questionable items, such as black powders and too-long needles, that you aren't sure what they would be used for.

16. Attic Hall
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If you look closely you can see Strahd's fingernail clippings

Note: Characters who enter via the stairs can see the children's room door open just a sliver, but immediately shut when they actually turn to look at it.
Mark of Horror: if players search the room, pick a player who isn't and have a spider (MM pg. 337) fall down onto their face. It shouldn't attack them, just give them reason to react.

17. Spare Bedroom
Note: This room contains a stove and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Note: The windows of this room are covered in bricks at the end of this adventure
Added Item: Longsword with no crossguard, under the bed. The hilt alone is stained with blood.

18. Storage Room
Note: This room contains a stove and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Note: The windows of this room are covered in bricks at the end of this adventure
Note: This room contains a secret door (plot reveal, can't be found until area 20 is explored)
Encounter: The specter (MM pg. 279) is here, unless it is defeated in area 15. When a character inspects the remains in the trunk, the specter appears with a horrified look, and flies into a rage, screeching.
Since this is an encounter that can quite literally kill a player within one round, I decided to lower the specter's Life Drain damage to 7. Hopefully the players will be able to survive a round or two of that.
Added Item: a chain shirt that is rusted but functional, on a mannequin

19. Spare Bedroom
Note: This room contains a stove and is filled with smoke at the end of the adventure
Note: The windows of this room are covered in bricks at the end of this adventure
Added item: bloody knife, stashed in a nightstand. An insight check of 12 or a medicine check of 10 reveals that this was the murder weapon that killed the nursemaid.

20. Children's Room
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Mom! Am I un-grounded yet?

This room contains skeletons that can be laid to rest in area 23
Note: The windows of this room are covered in bricks at the end of this adventure
Note: This room contains a secret door in a dollhouse (Active Perception 15, roll with advantage if child helps)
Encounter: The ghosts of Rose and Thorn are here. They can accompany the PCs.
If they possess a PC, the character gains a flaw and the child's voice in their head. The player should continue to play their character, but the child causes emotions in them and urges them to get rid of the monster in the basement.
Make sure to modify the ghost stat block (MM pg. 147) with the stats listed on CoS pg. 217 to make them childlike. I don't like the idea of the players finding the children's crypts in the basement, then having to come all the way back up to the attic to get the bones, so I would have Rose tell the PCs that she's very tired, and her family has a resting place in the basement. A religion check of 12 should suffice to realize what she means: her bones need to be laid to rest.
Added Item: an uncommon magic item, which draws a particular character to it from inside the toy chest

21. Secret Stairs
Mark of Horror: The creaking stairs can be heard throughout the entire house, and the thick cobwebs reduce the visibility to 5 ft. This is a 50ft descent, so that's a long way to go only seeing 5ft ahead. Those with darkvision should be nervous now.
When they reach 25ft (halfway), the character in the back hears footsteps behind them, descending along with the party. When they stop, so do the footsteps. Going back up reveals nothing. They get louder, until the characters reach the door at the bottom, at which point they stop completely.
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A skeletal hand under every stair, or your money back

Phew! That was a lot to go over! Hopefully you've gotten some good ideas out of this writeup. Feel free to comment if you think of any other ways to make this exploration tense and frightening. We'll continue with the underground sections of the house next time.